Sierra Leone News: Beach murder trial… Judge orders arrest of jurors

On 13 August 2015, Mohamed Lamin Kamara and Paul Korn were accused of murdering, Hannah Bockerie, along Aberdeen Beach in Freetown. Bockerie’s half-naked body was found on a lonely stretch of beach in the early hours of the day. The accused have been in prison since their arrest almost three years ago.
Since the commencement of their trial, in 2016, before Justice John Bosco Alieu at the Siaka Stevens Street High Court in Freetown, the persistent absenteeism of prosecution witnesses as well as incomplete empanelling of jurors remain hindrances to the progress of the trial.
On 16 April 2018, Justice John Bosco Alieu informed the Court that he will consider the issue of bail after he may have heard from the police investigator on the next adjourned date. The Judge noted that no information gathered in the evidence so far has pointed to the second accused.
After several adjournments, state prosecution was able to get the police investigator to testify on the matter.
After the prosecution council got the police investigator to testify, the matter was also adjourned twice due to the absence of one of the jurors, Emmanuel Boima. Boima has been at large on three consecutive adjournments.
On Monday 2 July 2018, Justice John Bosco Alieu ordered the arrest of three absent jurors including Boima. According to the Judge, the absence of the jurors without the due procedure at the peak of the matter is a perversion of justice.
Meanwhile, the accused are still remanded at the Male Correctional Centre in Freetown as the matter was adjourned to next Monday 9 July 2018.
SV/2/7/18
By Sylvia Villa
Tuesday July 03, 2018.